On Dec 2, 2011, at 7:10 PM, Michael G Schwern wrote: >> Distribution: A Distribution is an abstract concept that defines >> relationships between packages. The minimal concrete implementation >> of a Distribution would be just a META.json (or equivalent) file. >> Distributions also have names and versions like Foo-Bar-1.2 > > This is what I term a "release". > > A "distribution" is the whole Foo-Bar series of releases. It has a name, a > list of releases, and not much else. All the real data is associated with a > distribution's releases. See BackPAN::Index::Dist. > > A "release" is a specific version of a distribution. It has a CPAN id, date > of release, what distribution it's for, a filename, version, what files are in > it, etc... basically everything that's in the meta file is associated with a > release. See BackPAN::Index::Release.
Yes, that's an important distinction -- thanks for pointing it out. I'll try and incorporate that into my lexicon. >> Repository: A repository is a general term for any CPAN-like pile of >> files. This includes CPAN mirrors, as well as any DarkPAN or mini-cpans. >> A repository has a URL that identifies the entry point. For example: >> http://cpan.perl.org > > You might want to record the type of repository, even if there's > only "CPAN" for now. It might be worth differentiating "CPAN" from "BackPAN". > The structure is the same, but one has some CPAN releases and the later as > has all CPAN releases. > > For example, if you wanted to pull from Debian or Fedora sources. Good point. CPAN, BackPAN, and DarkPAN are all specific types of "repositories". So I need a name for that type. I guess "PAN" could be an option. -Jeff
